Daily Sports Betting Preview 8/9/2020: MLB Betting, WTA Palermo, NHL Round Robin

• The Miami Marlins are +210 underdogs to the New York Mets.
• Anett Kontaveit is a -165 odds favorite over Fiona Ferro in the final of the WTA’s Palermo Open.
• The Boston Bruins are -130 favorites over the Washington Capitals.

LAS VEGAS - Today’s Sunday edition of the Daily Sports Betting Preview once again seeks to cover all angles.

First, the Preview checks in with some MLB action, as the Miami Marlins take on the New York Mets.

Then, the WTA Palermo final is set, with Anett Kontaveit facing off against Fiona Ferro.

Finally, the Preview checks back in with the NHL as the playoff qualifiers and round robins continue.

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

MLB Betting

The Miami Marlins are, against all odds, one of the surprise teams in MLB, for more reasons than one.

Entering the year, the Marlins were expected to be extremely bad - one of the worst teams in the league, in fact.

Most online MLB sportsbooks had the Marlins around +25000 to win the World Series this year. These odds were nearly the longest on the board.

Then, the Marlins got COVID-19. Half of their traveling roster fell victim to the virus, which seemed to be the death knell to a season that never really got off the ground for them.

However, something odd happened to the Marlins after they resumed play.

They started winning.

The Marlins are currently first in the NL East, with a record of 7-2. Their futures odds to win the World Series have moved to a still-unlikely +15000, but that’s a serious movement.

Today, they face off against the New York Mets, a team that is famous for a) having Jacob DeGrom and b) not getting Jacob DeGrom any run support when he starts.

The Mets send DeGrom to the mound, and the odds seem to be in their favor.

The Mets are fresh off of handing the Marlins an 8-4 defeat, and now they have the chance to send their best pitcher to the mound.

The sportsbooks seem to think that the Marlins are still the depleted, weak team that they appear to be on paper. In other words, the prevailing wisdom seems to be that the Marlins are a fluke, and they will fall back to earth.

The Mets are serious favorites in this matchup, and there are good odds to be had if one believes in this Marlins team.

The question is, does anyone have a reason to?

WTA Palermo Betting

The final round of the WTA’s Palermo tournament is here, and all things considered, the tournament has been a success on multiple levels.

As far as getting the sport back up and running, the tournament has provided plenty of tennis action, which has allowed a lot of tennis betting.

Frankly, as a betting focused column, the return of the WTA has been nothing short of great.

The final matchup is between Anett Kontaveit and Fiona Ferro.

Kontaveit, at 24 years old, is one of the most promising players on the tour, with a current ranking of 22nd in the world that will surely go up after this tournament.

Fiona Ferro, ranked 53rd in the world before this tournament, is the only thing standing in her way.

Ferro is actually younger than Kontaveit, 23 years old as of now, and is looking for a second WTA title to add to the one she won at Lausanne in 2019.

This match should be a great one, with Kontaveit as a notable favorite, which makes sense when looking at the respective resumes of the competitors.

Kontaveit is higher ranked, and has a little bit more experience, which could go a long way.

Both women have only one previous WTA title to their respective names, however.

It is a remarkable accomplishment for both women to have reached this point, but only one can advance from here. The betting lines are already up at the best online sportsbooks!

NHL Betting

The NHL’s playoff format has been great for sports bettors who like to bet on hockey, as it has provided a ton of hockey betting opportunities.

The combination of playoff qualifiers and round robin seeding games has kept great hockey matchups on the television at all hours of the day.

Today’s featured matchup is between the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals, in a showdown of elite talent and teams.

Incredibly, however, this contest is not for the one seed or the two seed, but to determine which team gets the third and fourth seeds in the East.

Boston and Washington were elite throughout the regular season, but neither has picked up a win in the NHL’s Eastern Conference Round Robin, which determines playoff seeding.

The odds, unsurprisingly, are close.

The Bruins, despite their 0-2 record, are looking like mild favorites going into this matchup. Before the season was shut down due to COVID-19, the Bruins were the best team in the entire league.

Right now, their Stanley Cup futures odds put them behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (+275) and tied with the Philadelphia Flyers at +400.

That’s about as long as their odds have gotten all year.

The Bruins are in an interesting spot - they’re clearly struggling to find their footing, but in the larger sample size of the regular season, they were an overpowering force.

It could be a good time to wager on them.

Alternatively, the pandemic shutdown could have messed up whatever flow they were in, maybe for good.

There’s a lot to consider when it comes to betting on this matchup, but it should be a compelling one on the ice.

Happy Betting!